Three men were shot to death in a marketing company conference room and another was critically injured by a gunman who killed himself as police closed in, authorities said. Police found a scene of "utter chaos" Monday night at the offices of Zigzag Net Inc., city police Deputy Commissioner Richard Ross said. Two victims were on the floor and another was in a chair, all with "wounds to various parts of the body," Ross said. He said two other men had been bound with duct tape but not attacked. One of those men told officers the gunman had shot himself after exchanging fire with police officer, Ross said. The officer mentioned to me that he had to take a knife out to cut this person loose," Ross said. None of the police officers was hurt. Police identified the dead as Robert Norris, 41, of Newark, Delaware; Mark Norris, 46, of Piles Grove, New Jersey; and James Reif, 42, of Endicott, New York.... http://www.cnn.com

The city attorney’s office was investigating whether a hospital violated laws when it attempted to leave a paraplegic man at a Skid Row mission. The man was later found crawling in the street in a soiled hospital gown. A video filmed by security cameras at the Midnight Mission on Thursday shows two medical workers arriving by ambulance and trying to wheel the man, who is strapped to a gurney, into the facility. After an exchange with security guards, the medical workers took the man back to the ambulance and returned to the hospital. Orlando Ward, a spokesman for the Midnight Mission, said the workers realized the man was not able to walk. Hours later, a hospital van dropped off the man on Skid Row and left him crawling in the street with nothing more than a soiled gown and a broken colostomy bag, police said....http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17132074/

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has rejected US claims that Iran is arming Shia extremists in Iraq. US officials say Iran is fomenting violence in Iraq by providing weaponry to Shia militias for attacks on US forces.But senior Democrat politicians say they are sceptical of the Bush administration's claims after previous experience in Iraq. Are the Democrats right to be wary? How concerned are you about the American claims that Iran is providing weapons to Shia militias in Iraq? Have Your Say, or just read the comments from all over the world...http://newsforums.bbc.co.uk/nol/thread.jspa?threadID=5504&edition=2&ttl=20070213073852

Soldiers spearheading the increase in U.S. forces in Baghdad are papering car windows and storefronts with purple stickers listing telephone numbers and an e-mail address where Iraqis can send intelligence tips to help stop the violence. But if a recent sweep in search of car bomb makers is an indication, they have a long way to go to improve intelligence. Soldiers from the Army's 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment converged this week on a religiously mixed north Baghdad neighborhood of auto parts stores and "chop shops" that Iraqi commanders believed was used to rig deadly car bombs. Moving door to door, Iraqi and U.S. soldiers smashed padlocks with sledge hammers, clipped through wire gates and rifled through hundreds of buildings as Iraqi mechanics, their hands slick with grease and motor oil, peered from nearby shops. Instead of discovering a network of clandestine car bomb factories, the soldiers instead found only a few Kalashnikov rifles, eight grenades and some wire. ...http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17119622/

Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said yesterday that he has no information indicating Iran's government is directing the supply of lethal weapons to Shiite insurgent groups in Iraq. "We know that the explosively formed projectiles are manufactured in Iran," Pace told Voice of America during a visit to Australia. "What I would not say is that the Iranian government per se, knows about this." "It is clear that Iranians are involved and it's clear that materials from Iran are involved," he continued, "but I would not say by what I know that the Iranian government clearly knows or is complicit." Pace's comments came a day after US military officials in Baghdad alleged that the "highest levels" of the Iranian government have directed use of weapons that are killing US troops in Iraq. No information was provided to substantiate the charge. Administration officials yesterday deflected requests for more details, even as they repeatedly implied Tehran's involvement...http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/12/AR2007021201537_pf.html

Three weeks after promising it would show proof of Iranian meddling in Iraq, the Bush administration has laid out its evidence — and received in return a healthy dose of skepticism. The response from Congressional and other critics speaks volumes about the current state of American credibility, four years after the intelligence controversy leading up to the Iraq war. To pre-empt accusations that the charges against Iran were politically motivated, the administration rejected the idea of a high-level presentation, relying instead on military and intelligence officers to make its case in a background briefing in Baghdad. Even so, critics have been quick to voice doubts. Representative Silvestre Reyes of Texas, the Democratic chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, suggested that the White House was more interested in sending a message to Tehran than in backing up serious allegations with proof. ...http://fairuse.100webcustomers.com/sf/nyt2_13_7.htm